As Easy as ABC?

Abstract

This article examines the emergence of privatized child care in Australia and the efforts of one trade union to organize previously unorganized child care workers. The rapid growth of private child care delivery and the profits that are being generated are recent phenomena in Australia. The company that has emerged as the biggest provider is now expanding into the North American market and believes that its model is transferable into other human services areas, such as aged care. The article considers these developments in the context of the spread of precarious work and the new organizing methods being adopted by the child care workers' union to recruit members and establish their power within the industry.